Machine for lasting boots and shoes



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN KIMBALL, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

MACHINE FOR LASTING- BOOTS AND SHOES.

Specification of Letters Patent No. 18,152, dated September 8, 1857.

To all wiz-0m t may concern Be it known that I, JOHN KIMBALL, of Boston, in the county of Suolk and State of Massachusetts, have invented a new, and useful machine to be used in manufacturing shoes having wooden soles and leather uppers or uppers made of any other suitable fiexible material or materials; and I do hereby declare that the same is fully described and represented in the following specification and the accompanying drawings, of which- Figure 1 denotes a side elevation of the said machine; Fig. 2, a central, vertical and longitudinal section of the machine. Fig. 3, a transverse and vertical section. Fig. 4, is a side view of a wooden sole as prepared to be applied to the last of the machine.

The particular object of my invention is to enable/a workman to properly last the upper of a boot or shoe, in order to prepare the said upper for the reception of a wooden sole, and also to fasten the said upper to the said sole.

In the drawings, A, denotes a last provided with a trimming block, B, which may be made of metal or other suitable material, and should correspond in thickness around its edges to the length of overlap of the leather upper on the wooden sole, shown in Fig. 4. This trimming block may be fastened to the sole of the last, by one or more screws a, a. The last so provided and having a leather upper, C, placed upon it is supported by a jack, D, which consists of a stationary or rotary table b, having a heel post, c, anda toe rest, d, raised upon it, the said heel post being made to enter a socket, e, of the last, while the said toe rest is made to sustain the front end of the last and the upper leather thereon. The said toe rest should be so applied to the table, b, as to be able to slide on the same in a direction toward the heel post and it should have applied to it and in front of it, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2, as well as in Fig. 5, (which is a front view of the jack) a series of steel fingers or springs f, f, f, so arranged as to extend above it a short dist-ance. Besides the above there is applied to the jack, two series of bifurcated springs or clamps, as shown at g, g, g, and L, L, L, the same being arranged on opposite sides of the upper and last. Each of these clamps is connected by an inclined rod z', to an attachment plate 7c, arranged underneath the last, as shown in the drawings, the connecting rods 'of both series of bi urcated clamps being hooked to the plate and made to cross one another as shown in Fig. 3. This attachment plate, 7c, is also similarly connected with the toe rest by means of a rod, Z, arranged as shown in Fig. 2. By projections m, m, extended downward from the attachment plate, and through a lever, n, andhaving screws and nuts on their lower ends as shown at 0, 0, in Fig. 2, the attachment plate is also connected with said lever, so that when the latter is forced downward by the action of a screw p extended through the jack, as shown in Fig. 2 such attachment plate will. be drawn downward, so as to pull each clamp g, and L, against the leather upper which may be on the last, the said upper being thereby confined to the last by the pressure of the clamps against it. At the same time, the toe rests and its springs will be drawn toward the heel post, so as not only to confine the toe portion of the upper to the last, but produce a firm bearing of the last and upper on the toe rest.

The above described mechanism is applied to a board bench or base plate E, and so as to be capable of being turned around freely on a pin or journal, F, extended up therefrom, wheels or casters I, I, being applied to the jack in order to support it on the said base plate. A bent arm K, may extend up from the base plate and directly over the last as shown in the drawings. To this arm a toggle, M, may be jointed directly over the center of the jack, the said toggle being applied in such manner as to enable it to be turned from a vertical position to an inclined one as denoted by dotted lines in Fig. 2. This toggle should be long enough to rest on the wooden sole and hold it firmly on the last after it may have been placed thereon.

In operating with the above described machine, the upper, after having been lasted and clamped to the last as above described is to be trimmed down even with the upper surface of the gage trimming block B. This having been accomplished, the trimming block is to be removed from the last and the wooden sole applied to the sole of Y the last so that the leather may lap on the sole and lay within the grooved part thereof to which it is to be nailed. Next the toggle should be turned down into a vertical position, so as to press the sole firmly upon the last, all of which having been accomplished the Workman or attendant should together in order, at one and the same time next nail the leather to the Wooden sole. In to clamp the upper to the toe of the last,

the process of doing this he can turn the and move the toe rest toward the heel post jack around in order to bring the shoe into for the purpose described. 5 such convenient positions as occasion may In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set 15 require. my signature.

I claim- JOI-IN KIMBALL. J Combining the toe rest and its clamp to Witnesses: y the attachment plate by means of an inclined R. H. EDDY. i 10 rod as described, so that both may be moved F. P. HALE. Jr. 

